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St. Andrew's News

College welcomes gift from Rosemont United

Rosemont
United Church in Regina served its community for almost 100 years, but the
decision to close the church’s doors after 98 years in May 2012 due to the congregation’s
dwindling numbers didn’t end Rosemont’s mission.

St.
Andrew’s College was pleased to be one of the recipients of almost
half-a-million dollars, proceeds from the sale of the church, that was recently
distributed by the congregation to a number of church and social justice groups.

Principal
Lorne Calvert received a cheque of $24,420 from Doug Barss, chair of Rosemont’s
trustees, during the college’s annual fundraising gala and concert held April
17, 2013, in Regina. The college will use the funds for capital improvements.

Barss
told the Regina Leader-Post the church council wanted to ensure that a number of
the groups that had the support of Rosemont United Church would share in the
sale in the proceeds once the church’s financial books were closed in January.

“All
of these groups, we had a strong commitment to them as part of our
congregational life,” Barss said.

In
addition to St. Andrew’s, recipients of Rosemont’s funds were: Calling Lakes
Centre ($24,420), Carmichael Outreach ($48,840), Clare Parker Homes ($9,768),
Lumsden Beach Camp ($73,260), United Church Housing Corp. ($73,260), Regina
Anti-Poverty Ministry ($7,500 plus $41,340 in an endowment fund for future
support), United Church of Canada ($48,840 for mission and service, $24,420 for
congregational development, and $24,420 to ventures in mission), and Regina
Wascana Presbytery ($14,652 as well as $73,260 for "seed money" to
establish a youth ministry).

St. Andrew's Professor Receives Scholarship

A St. Andrew's College professor has been named as the recipient of a scholarship that will help further the study of social justice and activism among indigenous people confronted by the forces of global capitalism.

HyeRan Kim-Cragg, the Lydia Gruchy Professor of Pastoral Theology at St. Andrew's College, has been named as the recipient of the $10,000 Kaufman Scholarship awarded by The Central Council of the Centre for Christian Studies.

Kim-Cragg's project will continue her engagement in the ecumenical (United Church of Canada, Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines) study on "Empire, Peace and Economic Justice."

Her project will develop a theology of resistance in thecontext of global capitalism where the life of indigenous people and their land are violated due to the mining. This study engagement will involve meeting with local activists and Christian leaders in Guatemala, Korea and the Philippines.

She will also teach courses while she is travelling and is committed to doing justice action and education following her return to Canada.

Kim-Cragg earned her Doctorate in Theology in 2006 from the Emmanuel College in the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto. She studied for her Master of Divinity degree at Hanshin Graduate School of Theology in Seoul, Korea. She most recent publication is Story and Song: A Postcolonial Interplay between Christian Education and Worship.

The Kaufman Scholarship was established in 1945 by Emma R. Kaufman — who spent much of her career in Japan and was a founder of the Japanese Y.W.C.A. — as an expression of her concern that women have the opportunity of experiencing a different culture and come tok now what it meant to be a world citizen. Her experiences cemented in her mind the importance for Canadians, and especially for Canadian women, to have international experience

Kaufman, who died in 1979 at age 97, indicated her preference that the award be given to a Christian and to someone with a commitment to a theology of social justice.

Kim-Cragg's background and vision for her project fits well within the dream that Kaufman had for the scholarship, The Central Council of the Centre for Christian Studies said in a news release.

Elevator Lifts Off

It was a dream deferred, but the
goal of making St. Andrew’s College accessible through the installation
of an elevator took on new life just a couple of years ago, thanks in part to a
phone call from one of the college’s supporters.

“I was the principal of St.
Andrew’s College about a week and the phone rang and it was Professor
(Isabelle) Mills asking ‘When are we going to get this building accessible,’ ”
principal Lorne Calvert said to laughter as the college dedicated its new elevator July 7 as part of its 100th anniversary
celebration.

“It’s been decades in the making,
and today it is a great thrill for us all to know that our building and all of
its public areas — with the exception of our library reading room where we
have not quite finished the work — can be accessible to all.”

Mills, a retired University of
Saskatchewan professor who began using a wheelchair just seven years ago, had
the honour of cutting the ribbon and taking the ceremonial first ride in the
elevator.

She said the college’s effort to
ensure accessibility is important
recognition of the needs of people with disabilities and a tangible sign of its
commitment to welcoming all people into the life of the college and the
ministry of The United Church of Canada.

“It is a wonderful, wonderful
asset to the college and it welcomes people not just with wheelchairs but with
mobility disabilities from all problems," Mills said. "They are now welcome to come and even
be part of the ministerial team.”

A fundraising campaign college to
make the building accessible was started several years earlier but
became lost in the many financial demands that the college was facing
simply to survive, said board chair Vic Wiebe. The college’s centennial
provided new emphasis when it came to reviving the effort.

“The campaign may have died, but
the dream never did,” Wiebe said. “Two years ago, as the college came out of
struggles it was having and the board looked at the fact that we were gong to
be celebrating 100 years, we established a goal that we wanted to revive that
dream and make this building fully accessible.

“It is really with a sense of
gratitude and satisfaction that we are able to launch into our second century
to be able to say that we are truly open to persons with all levels of ability
and we are very proud of that.”

Working with Saskatoon-based
Access 2000, the college was able to develop a project with a $300,000 budget,
one-third of a previous and almost “impossible to achieve” estimate. The
campaign received its first lift from the people who call St. Andrew’s home on
a daily basis — its faculty, staff and board members who established the seed
fund necessary to develop the publicity and resources material for the
campaign.

“One of the things we determined
up front was that we wanted all of the donations to the project to go to the
project,” Wiebe said. “We determined amongst the faculty, the staff and the
board members that we would dig in our pockets and put up the money that would
handle the expenses of the project itself.

“I want to extend a big thank you
to the staff, to the faculty and to the current and former board members who
saw the vision and saw the need for us to take some leadership if we were going
to reach out and expect others to make some donations.”

Funds for the project came from a
variety of sources, including $75,000 from the federal government’s Enabling
Accessibility Fund. Individual and corporate donations also played a key role,
as did support from within the United Church.

“We have relied deeply on the
support of members of the United Church from right across this conference, the
three Prairie conferences and, I may say, across Canada,” Calvert said, “and our
gratitude to all those from The United Church of Canada who have supported us.”

Rev. Bill Unger, the minister of St.
David’s Trinity United Church in Saskatoon and secretary of The United Church
of Canada’s Saskatchewan Conference, said the elevator was a milestone worth
celebrating.

“In the mid-’80s when I was here
as a student being prepared for ministry … I had a colleague, a fellow student,
who had great difficulty with stairs. Not only did she have to face the
challenge of preparing for ministry here, but she had the daily challenge of
just getting into the building and finding the classrooms,” Unger said.

“She navigated stairs with great
difficulty so this was a place with barriers for her, ones that she did
overcome, but she did have days where she seriously wondered if it was all
worth it. We know our building should never be a barrier to one who is doing
their best to answer God’s call in their lives.”

Wiebe said despite the success of
the college’s fundraising campaign it remains about $20,000 short of covering
the full cost of the elevator’s installation. The college’s operating budget
will cover the remaining costs, but any additional dollars contributed toward
the project will reduce the amount of money that has to be drawn from operating
funds.

Spoke 'n Word

At the library in St. Andrew’s
you can now borrow a book or a bike!
This unique program offers a bike loan to students of the Saskatoon
Theological Union to allow easy travel between the library collections of St.
Andrew’s, Emmanuel and St. Chad, the Lutheran Theological Seminary and Horizon
Pentecostal College that comprise the STU's joint library collection.

St. Andrew's Collegenow accessible to all

Our dream of making St.
Andrew’s College accessible to those for whom stairs are a barrier is a reality. With
the financial support of many an elevator now serves three floors of our building
from street level, providing access to all. And we are happy that our fundraising is nearing the goal of
$300,000 to complete the project. Thanks to everyone who has ‘given us a lift’ and we yet welcome those
who help us complete the campaign. During the midst of the construction St. Andrew’s welcomed Mr. Rick
Hansen, Canada’s “Man in Motion,” who gave our elevator its first ‘test
flight.'

Responsive Initiatives Grant Awarded to St. Andrew's

St. Andrew’s has been
awarded a Responsive Initiatives Grant by The United Church of Canada to
provide an opportunity for ministers of Korean Canadian congregations to join a
learning circle with our students in the study of the polity, practices,
history and ethos of The United Church of Canada. The grant will also provide for the translation into
Korean of United Church documents that describe the polity and practices of the church.

Proudly Inclusive

As an Affirming Ministry within the United Church of Canada, we are welcoming and inclusive of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.